Largest neutral buoyancy pool

NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Sonny Carter Training Facility, near the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA, measures 61.5 m x 31.1 m x 12.2 deep, and has a volume of 23,334.33 cubic metres.

The giant pool is one of the largest indoor pools in the world by volume. It is used by astronauts training for spacewalks, with the neutral buoyancy provided by the water used to simulate the effects of microgravity during an EVA. It contains a full-scale mock-up of the modules of the International Space Station, as well as mock-ups of other vehicles that dock with the ISS, including ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle. Astronauts train in full spacesuits underwater, assisted by a team of professional divers. The pool at the NBL loses around 20,000 litres of water per week just owing to evaporation. The Russian, Chinese, European and Japanese space agencies all have neutral buoyancy pools of smaller size the NBL. The pool at the NBL was completed in December 1995.